Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Corinthians 9:12

"If others partake of [this] right over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ." — 1 Corinthians 9:12 (ASV)

If others. Other teachers living with you. There can be no doubt that the teachers in Corinth urged this right and received support.

Be partakers of this power. Of this right to support and maintenance.

Are not we rather? We the apostles; we who have labored for your conversion, who have founded your church, who have been the first and the most laborious in instructing you and imparting to you Spiritual blessings? Do we not have a better claim than they?

Nevertheless we have not used this power. We have not urged this claim; we have chosen to forgo this right and to labor for our own support. The reason why they had done this, he states in the subsequent part of the chapter. (See 2 Corinthians 11:7–9; 12:14. Compare to Acts 18:3; Acts 20:34–35).

But suffer all things. We endure all privations and hardships; we subject ourselves to poverty, want, hunger, thirst, and nakedness, rather than urge a claim on you and thus leave the suspicion that we are motivated by mercenary motives. The word used here (stegomen, meaning suffer) properly means to cover, to keep off (as rain, etc.), and then to contain, to sustain, tolerate, endure. Here it means to bear or endure all hardships. (Compare to 1 Corinthians 4:11–13).

Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Paul here states the reason why he had not urged a claim to support in preaching the gospel. It was not because he was not entitled to full support, but because by denying himself this right, he could do good and avoid certain negative consequences that would have resulted if he had strenuously urged it. His conduct in this, therefore, was just one illustration of the principle on which he said he would always act (1 Corinthians 8:13): a readiness to deny himself things that are lawful, if by doing so he could promote the welfare of others. The reasons why his urging this claim might have hindered the gospel may have been many.

1. It might have exposed him and the ministry generally to the charge of being mercenary.
2. It would have prevented him from presenting in bold relief the fact that he was bound to preach the gospel no matter what, and that he was motivated in it by a simple conviction of its truth.
3. It might have alienated many minds, who might otherwise have been led to embrace it.
4. It would have prevented the exercise of self-denial in him, and the benefits that resulted from that self-denial, etc. (1 Corinthians 9:17–18, 23, 27).